


First Fantasy NaNoWriMo: 17: A Lesson.

by SkiesOverTokyo



Series: FirstFan NaNoWriMo Drabbles [17]
Category: First Fantasy (Webcomic)
Genre: Exposition, Worldbuilding, plot plot plot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-17
Updated: 2018-11-17
Packaged: 2019-08-25 03:33:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16653481
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SkiesOverTokyo/pseuds/SkiesOverTokyo
Summary: Short Drabble with a younger Nura and his younger sister, Larsa.





	First Fantasy NaNoWriMo: 17: A Lesson.

“I do hope, Lord Nura, that you’re paying attention.”  
The ruler came down, scarily close to my hand, and I jolted back to attention as our tutor, Roeder, sighed, rubbing his temples, then, brandishing his ruler, like the sword he had once carried as my father’s enforcer before age and war had forced him to retire his first love-being a man who cut lives down like a farmer does with corn, and return to his second, that of teaching.  
  
If one could call his lectures on history, politics and other subjects my father found necessary, but which Roeder had limited knowledge of, and made many asides upon, teaching. Like anything, he set about teaching with the grit of a man who has been a soldier his entire life, and treated everything as some variation on battle. Now, when it came to actual war, his stories were riveting, his retelling worthy of the best bards. Unfortunately, history, with its retelling of the formation of the Empire, a lesson where Roeder had managed to bring a fearsome number of weapons into, was two days hence, and thus, I and an equally bored looking Larsa, were being lectured on the structure of the Empire’s various relations with the rest of the world around us.  
  
“As I was saying” Roeder continued, picking up his place perfectly.  
“To the south, we have the Great Dragon Desert. Now, what can you tell me about the race that lives there? Obviously, the area is somewhat inhabited by dragons, hence the name, but our key trading ally is…?”  
Larsa’s hand shot up,  
“The Dvarvians, Sir!”  
“Correct. Now, I suppose both of you already know but the Dvarvians, due to the heat of the desert, live largely underground, near to where springs up from deep within the earth, mining and crafting the precious metals and minerals they find, from salt deposits from when a sea once covered where the desert is now, to gold and silver. Now…”  
  
He wandered to the blackboard, and skilfully-father had often said that he should have gone into draftsmanship-sketched out a simple diagram.  
“Now, Dvarves are interesting in their political structure. One could call their system a number of independently run city states, each run by a group of elders, with one notable difference. What is that, Nura?”  
I leaned back, and almost by rote, replied  
“Each city state sends two of its elders to the Grand Council, which acts akin to our Imperial Parliament, but with one major difference-that council serves the states which send elders to it, acting as an ultimate authority and judicial group, as well as offering advice to each city state as and when requested. Dvarves have not had a monarchy in centuries, so the council governs itself, a part of state, and not…apart from state, if you will.”  
A rare smile from Roeder  
“As usual, Nura, when you pay attention, you are a font of knowledge. “  
  
He turned once more to the blackboard  
“The Dvarven system is, actually, the basis of our own, though ours has a monarch and his family atop that. Now, some independent politics theorists have weighed up the merits of both systems, and, according to them, they both have their advantages, and their disadvantages, which I will go into greater detail with later. Now…”  
Back to the main blackboard, bearing a map of the entire world, the empire in the centre  
“To the north, the other extreme, the Edge. Beyond the Edge, lies a plain without measure-now, some believe this to be what they call the North Pole-a huge, largely mountainous landscape, and on the plains, moving back and forth, are the nomadic Rüstungnomadenstadt. Now, for most of the time, they are hardly hostile, slowly following, at about ten to fifteen miles a day, the tremendous herds of Edge-bison and Speardeer. Of course, in the winter, when resources grow scarce, they often group together, in cities close to the border, wall-to-wall, and share what they have. But, occasionally, slights, disputes and old rivalries rear their head and they fight.”  
  
He had a far away look in his eyes  
“I believe that one should see, even from the safe confines of the Wall before the Edge, at least once. It is an awesome sight, much grander than a sea battle-the two cities charge, at full power-they use a mixture of coal engine, and power from the wind, you see, for it is very windy beyond the edge, though some of the more old-fashioned among them prefer to have great teams of speardeer-towards each other, and, unless both captains are skilled pilots, collisions or accidents can rupture the hulls, or send a settlement crashing, end over end, to destruction. Of course”  
He pushed his glasses back up his nose, as they had slid somewhat due to his animatedness, and continued  
“Of course, what is more common is slower or glancing collisions, and sometimes the victor of the two will trundle off, this martial show of strength and skill over, and the only damage being material and pride. In more serious contests, some of the warrior caste may fight each other, but rarely to the death. Honour and experience are more important to the warriors of the Rüstungnomadenstadt than bloodletting.”  
He turned, and wandered back to the other board  
“Now, most of the warriors wear leather armlets, perhaps a few to start with, but these carry, well, one could call them mementos, but they’re probably more complex than that-it’s as if each warrior carries  a potted history of their own lives, victories and losses and memories on them.”  
  
He was about to continue when the Great Bell tolled, and he sighed  
“And sadly, that’s all we have time for this morning. I expect to see you both in the parade yard later.”  
A sigh from next to me,  
“And that means you too, Larsa. Now…”  
He gestured at the door with a thumb.  
“Go get something to eat.”  
And he swept from the room, humming to himself.  
  
I got up and wandered to stare at the map. I’d often thought how small the Empire really was, a tiny part of the world map. So  much to explore.  
“Larsa?”  
“Yes, brother, dearest?”  
“Someday I want to travel to the four corners of this world.”  
She leaned on her elbows, looking at me, looking at the map, and sighed  
“Nura, we do live in such gilded cages. Mother and Father were once like us, children with such ideas, now they serve the Emperor. Maybe the Dvarves are right in what they think…”  
I nodded, more to myself than her  
“Our system is two systems bolted together, that’s for sure. If…when I am in charge of the Parliament, as Father was when he was younger, I…would like to make the Emperor part of the council…subject to its decisions, but able to guide them too.”  
Before I could form my thoughts, Larsa had got up, walked over to me and had fixed a slightly irritated expression on her face.  
“Nura....you’re sounding like Father again. Come on. Let’s go eat.”  
And, gently taking my arm, she pulled me out of the classroom, and towards the great hall.


End file.
